The Last Frozen Room
by bholley
Summary: What if Elsa's room didn't thaw with the rest of the kingdom? What power of love would be strong enough to thaw over a decade of pain and fear? Oneshot. Sisterly fluff and feels.


"Elsa! This is… can I…"

"My room. And yes, you may," Elsa replied with a wan smile. It was late in the evening of the thaw, and she had been walking Anna to her room when the younger girl rushed down the hallway ahead of her. Still half a hallway behind her sister, Elsa gestured for her to open the door. A smile of wonder on her face, Anna eagerly complied. The door creaked open with an odd scraping sound and Anna stepped across the boundary she had for so long been locked behind. And she stopped short, the smile falling from her face.

"Anna? What is it?" Elsa asked, finally reaching the threshold. She gasped and her smile dropped as she looked in upon a familiar winterscape. Everything was still frozen under several inches of dark ice. A layer had been sheared off when Anna opened the door.

"I… I thought you thawed everything," Anna mumbled, confused. Elsa looked down at her feet, gravely disappointed in herself, and said nothing.

"But love will thaw…" Anna suggested lamely, throwing a concerned glance back to her older sister.

"I… guess it wasn't strong enough," Elsa whispered, looking away. Years of fear, loneliness, guilt, and torment were stacked in unmelting layers in there. She was ashamed that Anna had to see it like that, and even more ashamed that it hadn't thawed. She wondered if the ice was permanent here and that maybe this particular room, and especially that awful door, should just be destroyed. There were so many painful memories.

Anna was still staring in shock at the state of the unfamiliar room and didn't notice Elsa's bent head and the way she miserably turned away. But she did hear the tiny tap of a frozen teardrop hit the ground. Anna turned her determined gaze and grabbed her sister's folded hands. Ignoring a gasp, she pulled Elsa into the frozen room. Anna slipped a bit on the ice but quickly caught her balance. Elsa was cringing away from her, still unused to physical contact and very emotionally vulnerable.

Before she could get away, Anna enclosed her sister in a warm hug. And she wouldn't let go. Anna could feel Elsa's heart racing. Her sister's entire body was tense.

"Elsa," she called gently, reaching up one hand to cradle the back of her head, "it's okay." The figure in her grasp was trembling ever so slightly. Anna thought hard about what to say next. It would do no good to ramble when Elsa was just a heartbeat away from panic.

"I love you," she said against a porcelain neck. Her hand gently stroked soft hair and Elsa shuddered, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. Anna took this as a good sign and continued running her fingers through the light strands. "Please believe me. Out of everything there is to love in the whole world, I love you the most. No matter what." Anna found herself blinking back tears now.

"I'm so sorry that all of this happened to you," Elsa's breath hitched at Anna's words.

"But it's over now," Anna insisted as she held their bodies together with a strong left arm. Her touch was firm but gentle and she nuzzled her chin into the crook of Elsa's neck.

"I'm right here. I'm okay, and so are you." Elsa didn't seem to be struggling to get away any more, so Anna let her arm relax a bit and sink to Elsa's lower back, still holding her close.

"You don't have to be afraid any more. I've got you." Anna felt more than heard a whimper as Elsa's arms jerked forwards to clumsily rest on Anna's back. Anna smiled and leaned up to murmur as earnestly as she could.

"I love you."

And Elsa finally broke. A strangled sob rattled forth from Elsa's throat as her hands finally reacted to cling to the back of Anna's dress. Her face was hidden in Anna's shoulder as miserable sobs wracked her frame. Anna wept too as Elsa's sorrow crashed around them - not as ice, but as hot tears on Anna's shoulder.

Elsa's trembling had increased sevenfold and her knees finally gave way. Anna, in a rare moment of grace, carefully lowered them both to the ground without slipping or falling. She didn't loosen her grip on Elsa as she knelt, holding her distraught sibling close. She practically pulled Elsa onto her lap as she sat with one hand buried in Elsa's hair and the other rubbing circles on her back.

"Shh, it's okay," she soothed, and gently rocked the two of them back and forth. "It's all right. I'm right here, and I'm not going to let you go. I love you, I love you," she repeated as Elsa released years of hidden, compacted pain, clinging to her little sister. Eventually, Elsa's sobs lessened and she gradually relaxed. Soon her body was completely limp, resting on Anna who leaned against a chair for support.

Elsa's head weighed heavy on her shoulder, but Anna didn't mind. Elsa now breathed deeply, peacefully, and evenly in an exhausted sleep. Anna's tears had long since dried, and she smiled as she looked around the now-thawed room. The ice had dissipated without even leaving puddles. The only dampness in the room was Anna's tear-soaked shoulder.

Anna's legs were getting numb, so she set about trying to move. Elsa was so deeply asleep that she didn't react when Anna carefully lowered her to the ground and stood up. She pulled back the covers on the queen's bed before returning to her side. Elsa's face was relaxed and devoid of fear or guilt now, though the streaks of tears remained on her still-flushed cheeks. With some difficulty, Anna half drug half carried her sister to the bed and settled her under the covers.

Anna kicked off her shoes and blew out the candles before joining Elsa in the bed. She cuddled up next to her older sister and draped an arm and a leg protectively over her frame as exhaustion pulled at her own eyelids. She pressed a gentle kiss to Elsa's cheek and could taste the residual saltiness of tears there. She frowned but she found solace in the fact that Elsa was now fast asleep and no longer in such distress.

She hoped that upon waking, Elsa would remember Anna's love for her and not be afraid. Comforted by the warmth of her sister, Anna was able to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. Finally free from the ice, Elsa's room had gained warmth and color. Elsa's heart did the same, safe in the warm embrace of her beloved sister through the night.

Inspired by:

"Thaw" by Noodlerface on deviantart

"Snowy cuddle" by yuri-murasaki on deviantart


End file.
